


Cibo & Kyrii Have Conversations on an Elevator

by upwise



Category: Blame! (Manga)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Conversations, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-02-21
Packaged: 2019-11-02 00:19:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17877557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/upwise/pseuds/upwise
Summary: Cibo and Kyrii are stuck on an elevator for a month. They talk a little bit.





	Cibo & Kyrii Have Conversations on an Elevator

**Author's Note:**

> In Log 37, the Unofficial Megastructure, Kyrii and Cibo have to ride an elevator for at least 800 hours (33 days) to reach their destination. Surely they talked to each other during that time. Maybe it sounded like this.

"Kyrii? Are you awake?"

Cibo doesn't really expect him to respond. It's been eleven days in the elevator and he's made no indication that he's even conscious. Even through her frustrating interviews with the attendant he has stayed still and silent, barely breathing. So she almost starts when Kyrii's head tilts up and his eyelids open. For a moment he seems disoriented, squinting. Then he turns to her, expressionless.

"Can we talk?" Cibo knows this sounds bizarre and out of place, especially coming from her, especially said to him. But she doesn't care. 

Kyrii stares at her, still expressionless. "I mean, can we have a conversation." Cibo has prepped her case. Her suit is throwing up warnings about seratonin uptake, doesn't have the raw material to synthesize the SSRIs necessary to stave off depressive symptoms which will only get worse with the hundreds of hours of travel time remaining. She'll be less effective in the field and may be more a burden than a help by the end of the journey. Any sort of social interaction would help mitigate those symptoms. 

She doesn't get the chance to use any of it because after a moment Kyrii replies, "What about?" 

Cibo is silent. She didn't expect to get this far. Here goes, she thinks.

"What's that injector you use? The capsule with the needle. I thought it was a stem cell injection at first, and then maybe a psychotropic. But I can't figure out the pattern." 

Kyrii pulls one of the little cylinders out of a flap in his skinsuit. "This?" 

"Yes." 

"I don't know about the healing or psychology of it. But it helps." 

"What do you mean? What does it help?" It's not just for conversation's sake--she's curious. Kyrii's face doesn't change, though he does tilt his head as he looks at her. 

"It helps dampen overwhelming sensations." He pauses. "I don't know what to call them." He pauses again, longer this time. 

"It helps reduce cortisol levels?" 

"I don't know." 

"Hmm." Cibo doesn't quite know what to say. She wants to know more, but Kyrii clearly can't help her understand in the way she wants. 

Her thoughts are interrupted when Kyrii speaks again. "Sometimes there's a heaviness and it's easy to let my eyelids close. Sometimes there's a buzzing feeling, like the sound a malfunctioning light makes, and it's hard to focus. Sometimes it feels like thin, cold cables moving on my face and arms. Sometimes it's just pain. 

"The injector relieves those feelings. They don't go away, they just get less intense." 

Cibo guesses at the feelings he described: exhaustion, some fight-or-flight response... She has no idea what the third one is. This is fascinating. "It is psychological, then. A topical psych med." She thinks, maybe the reason I couldn't figure that out is because Kyrii isn't very expressive. She realizes she might want to express this to further the conversation. "I couldn't figure that out because you're not very expressive." Hmm. Maybe not the best phrasing. But it was--it was relatable. "Like me." 

Kyrii smiles that rare smile. Small, almost melancholy, with his head tilted down to look forward through his greasy hair. "Yes." Cibo is glad to have gotten her meaning through. Kyrii looks puzzled for a moment, takes a breath, and says, "Does your suit do something similar?" 

Cibo is stunned. Kyrii asked a follow-up question. They're having a conversation. "Y-yes. The suit synthesizes chemicals and injects them into my bloodstream on a regular schedule. Or, it would... I'm still getting used to the interface." She smirks. "I miss the Safeguard body." 

Kyrii's look darkens. Cibo asks, "What?" She doesn't know whether to expect an answer. 

"Sanakan." 

Ah. Right. "Even with Sanakan." Kyrii looks at her, mildly incredulous. Cibo thinks, this conversation is not turning out like I expected. "I was in control, but her thought patterns would interfere with mine. We communicated. She's allegiant to the Safeguard for now but she's a distinct personality." Cibo wanted to smile? She forced a stoic face. Hmm. "She's... like you. She's very interesting." Hmmmm. 

Kyrii's look is stormy. Cibo puzzles over her feelings. They are bizarre and contradictory. Usually she doesn't need to do much reflection but they're all she can think about now. Why? 

"Cibo," says Kyrii. His face has dropped back into its neutral state. "How do you think about the things we did with the Electro-Fishers and Mensab?" 

"How do I think about them?" Cibo almost feels annoyed. "I think we didn't find the Net Terminal Gene. But we were able to help the Electro-fishers, and we have Seu's genetic information." 

"No." Cibo is surprised by his vehemence. "We didn't help the Electro-fishers." He doesn't make eye contact with her. 

"But we did, remember? We helped defeat the Safeguard and shelter them in Toha Heavy Industries and then we helped them escape when the forwarding began. I showed you the memory-feed, the survivors left by escape pod before the last cave forwarded." 

"Yes. We led Sanakan to the settlement. I didn't wake up in time to recognize her. They used their precious supplies on us. We didn't stop the Safeguards in time. We lost all of them inside Toha. There were a dozen left." His head sinks. The expression on his face stays the same. His voice remains at his low monotone. "We led Sanakan to the settlement. I didn't help the laborers when they asked for it. I killed the Drybodies that were just trying to stop the body trade. I got Kumoi killed and I left Yaki to fend for herself. I couldn't heal them. I destroyed the Silicon Life's embryo chambers. I didn't stop the Safeguards from massacring the villagers. I didn't save the uninfected child. I didn't save Itoi or her family. I destroyed Osona's generator.

"I didn't help the Electro-fishers." 

Kyrii falls silent. Cibo started angry, and is still angry, but also feels something else, deeper and more overwhelming. She doesn't want to. "We did what we could." Then, to hurt him, "I did what I could." Kyrii doesn't react. Of course he doesn't. "You hear me? I did what I could. I don't know what you can do. You never say anything! You don't know anything! I did what I could!" She's not getting anything back. It's making the feeling even deeper. She can't muster enough anger to cover it any more. She becomes silent and draws her knees to her chest, glaring at Kyrii. After a moment she huffs dismissively and stares at the spot where her knees touch. She breathes deeply, overwhelmed. 

Kyrii whispers something. He pauses. Then, "I need to find the Net Terminal Gene." He pulls out a capsule, snaps it open, and pushes its needle into the flesh of his hand. He slumps forward. 

Cibo remains silent for a long time. Is this better, she thinks. Is panic preferable to depression. Panic and whatever-this-is. Her adrenal gland is releasing cortisone, according to her suit. Great. She can't escape the thought-loops. The image of Sanakan mid-formation, her cloak of transitionary matter slicing into the people around her. The sensation of Cibo's flesh rotting beneath Bio-Electric while her laborer allies above suffocated in blocks of fulcrete. 

A day goes by. It passes in loops and fitful sleep and silence. 

Finally, Cibo realizes she is freed. The memories don't occupy her thoughts. For some reason, what's left is almost funny. "You know what I miss," she says, breaking the hours of quiet, knowing Kyrii probably won't respond. "I miss food." 

He does. He looks at her. 

"I miss biting into something solid and chewing it. My suits have taken care of caloric intake and nutrition since I was imprisoned at Bio-Electric... and the Safeguard body couldn't eat, really, just absorb things." Cibo meets Kyrii's gaze. "You like to eat, Kyrii?" 

"I eat. Power works, too. I traveled through uninhabited sectors for a long time, so when my rations ran out I scavenged. Once I traded food with a Safeguard." 

"Really?" 

"I didn't know what it was back then. But it agreed to give me food." 

"Huh. An autonomous agent. Why didn't it attack you?" 

"I don't know." 

"And it gave you supplies! What did it want in return?" 

"I didn't have the chance to ask. Some human warriors surprised us and tried to kill it." 

Cibo knows what happens when humans face safeguard agents. She might have stayed silent but for the echo of a feeling welling up inside her. "I'm sorry." 

He looks at her. She had to move away from the subject. What to say... they had been talking about something... eating! "I don't know how much food or power will be available in a provisional sector." Nope. Something uplifting. "Can you digest carbon-maggots?" Most invertebrates accumulated highly toxic nanocarbon allotropes in their systems. But who knew, with Kyrii. I am not good at this, thinks Cibo.

"I don't know." He stares ahead, pensive. "I could try." 

The tone of his voice takes her by surprise. She laughs, a short, ugly bark. The first in a while. "We'll see." She is struck by a sudden gratitude. "Thank you, Kyrii." 

He looks at her, head tilted. He is silent for a moment. "Thank you." 

Cibo leans back against the wall, eyes on the ceiling. "Maybe I'll try a carbon-maggot, too. My suit should be able to pull out the toxins." She contemplates. "I hope there aren't any humans here. I hope we find that genetic terminal and nothing else." 

"Yes." A beat passes. "Too late," Kyrii realizes. "You're here." 

Cibo smirks. "That's right. We're here." 

The elevator hums as Cibo and Kyrii sit, alone.


End file.
